And Otho comes, and leaping from his steed, Their words though faint were many-from the tone Save that when struggling nearer to his last, XX. But gasping heaved the breath that Lara drew, 1135 And dull the film along his dim eye grew; His limbs stretch'd fluttering, and his head droop'd o’er The weak yet still untiring knee that bore; He press'd the hand he held upon his heart It beats no more, but Kaled will not part 1140 With the cold grasp, but feels, and feels in vain, For that faint throb which answers not again. “ It beats !"-Away, thou dreamer! he is gone It once was Lara which thou look'st upon. 1145 XXI. He gazed, as if not yet had pass'd away The haughty spirit of that humble clay; And those around have roused him from his trance, But cannot tear from thence his fixed glance; And when in raising him from where he bore Within his arms the form that felt no more, 1150 He saw the head his breast would still sustain, Roll down like earth to earth upon the plain; He did not dash himself thereby, nor tear The glossy tendrils of his raven hair, But strove to stand and gaze, but reeld and fell, 1155 Scarce breathing more than that he loved so well. Than that he loved! Oh! never yet beneath The breast of man such trusty love may breathe! 1160 That trying moment hath at once reveald XXII. And Lara sleeps not where his fathers sleep, 1165 But where he died his grave was dug as deep ; Nor is his mortal slumber less profound, [mound; Though priest nor bless'd, nor marble deck'd the And he was mourn'd by one whose quiet grief, Less loud, outlasts a people's for their chief. 1170 Vain was all question ask'd her of the past, And vain e'en menace-silent to the last; She told nor whence, nor why she left behind Her all for one who seem'd but little kind. Why did she love him? Curious fool !-be still— 1175 Is human love the growth of human will ? To her he might be gentleness; the stern Have deeper thoughts than your dull eyes discern, And when they love, your smilers guess not how Beats the strong heart, though less the lips avow. 1180 They were not common links, that form’d the chain That bound to Lara Kaled's heart and brain; But that wild tale she brook'd not to unfold, And seal'd is now each lip that could have told. XXIII. They laid him in the earth, and on his breast, 1185 1190 XXIV. Upon that night (a peasant's is the tale) 1195 A Serf that cross'd the intervening vale, When Cynthia's light almost gave way to morn, And nearly veil'd in mist her waning horn; A Serf, that rose betimes to thread the wood, And hew the bough that bought his children's food, Pass'd by the river that divides the plain 1201 Of Otho's lands and Lara's broad domain : He heard a tramp-a horse and horseman broke From out the wood-before him was a cloak Wrapt round some burthen at his saddle-bow, 1205 Bent was his head, and hidden was his brow. Roused by the sudden sight at such a time, And some foreboding that it might be crime, |